A Vancouver man has been sentenced to time in U.S. federal prison for his part in a lucrative scam that reportedly netted him and his brother close to $1 million in crop insurance payments from the U.S. government.
Derek Johnson became emotional at his sentencing hearing Monday in federal court in Fargo, N.D., reported the Forum news service, saying he’d “lost everything” and wouldn’t be able to return to Canada, where the report said his wife and children live and where he runs a construction company.
The report said Johnson, in his late 40s, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and given five years of supervised probation. He was to report to authorities on Tuesday.
His brother, Aaron Johnson, 50, was sentenced to four years in prison and five years of supervised release. The brothers were also ordered to repay approximately $1 million.
The brothers have 14 days to appeal their sentences.
The Johnsons, who run a potato farm in the Northwood, N.D. area, were found guilty last December of deliberately spoiling their 2006 harvest in order to claim crop insurance payments. They did this by introducing heat, chemicals and water to crop.
However, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. federal court, it is alleged the brothers likely orchestrated further scams before and after the 2006 harvest year.
“It can comfortably be presumed that the amount of losses in this case far exceed what the United States can prove,” read the memorandum, prepared by assistant U.S. attorney Nicholas Chase.
“It is doubtful that anyone believes that 2006 is the first and last time that Aaron and Derek Johnson intentionally damage[d] their crops.”
The memo noted that Aaron Johnson was convicted in 1995 for fraudulently obtaining disaster assistance for a potato farm the brothers were involved with. Other farmers also heard Aaron Johnson bragging of his fraud schemes, the memo said.
The sentencing memo characterizes the brothers as repeat offenders who deliberately took advantage of farm programs. Not only did they defraud the government, they also hurt other farmers, the memo noted.
“Aaron and Derek Johnson repeatedly violated federal farm programs that are based on trust and public support,” the memo said. “Moreover ... Aaron and Derek Johnson have shown total disrespect — past the point of mockery — for these proceedings and the rule of law.”
During trial, Derek Johnson said he returns to the farm only at certain times during the growing season.
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